Bad software sent postal workers to jail, because no one wanted to admit it could be wrong:

Janet Skinner said that she was taken away from her two kids for nine months when she was imprisoned, after the software showed a £59,000 shortfall. She also says she lost a job offer because of her criminal conviction. The time she and others like her spent in jail can’t be bought back, and it happened because software was taken at its word.

[…] another woman, who swore she was innocent, was sent to prison for theft while she was pregnant.

One man reportedly died by suicide after the computer system showed that he had lost almost £100,000. Within a few months, his replacement also faced losses due to discrepancies from the software.

Horizon (the software) was made by Japanese company Fujitsu.

Probably out-sourced too.

This is a programmer’s worst nightmare, but it’s not. This is real life, and we are making software that can cause catastrophic consequences like this for real people everyday.

The least you can do?

Test Your Software.